Torontonian Phil Villeneuve dances his way onto ‘The Ellen DeGeneres show’

Sometimes, you just have to dance it out.

Toronto journalist Phil Villeneuve has been dancing in the streets for years. His energetic YouTube videos have turned him into a viral star and opened the door to meeting such celebrities as the Scissor Sisters, Robyn, Ke$ha, and Kylie Minogue. Yesterday, one of Villeneuve's dreams came true when his dance video was featured on a program he has loved for years, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

A few weeks ago, DeGeneres announced a new contest called "Ellen's Dance Dare," which challenges viewers to sneak up behind unsuspecting strangers and dance.

According to the show's website, "If we show your video on-air, you'll get a big prize from Ellen!" Rumour has it that the prize is a chance to be flown to Los Angles to dance with DeGeneres herself and Villeneuve could not be more excited about it.

"It's pretty thrilling to have the clip on the show. Hopefully it's only step one and the next step is going to L.A. to dance with her. It was a short clip, but it was short and sweet and I couldn't be happier," Villeneuve told Yahoo! Canada Music yesterday.

Originally from Honey Harbour, Ontario, the viral video star has never taken a dance lesson but has always loved to dance.

"[Dancing] never gets old because it's so innocent," Villeneuve said. "It's from the heart and it puts everyone in a good mood and that's totally why I do it, for those exact reasons."

In his video submission for "Ellen's Dance Dare," Villeneuve can be seen dancing around Toronto in a variety of places, including along College Street, behind a TTC worker, and beside a Citytv news crew. He braves the cold for the majority of the video and dances to a remixed version of Kool & The Gang's classic track "Get Down On It," which he chose because, to him, it is very "Ellen-esque."

By sending the video to family and friends and spreading it through various social media networks, it has racked up more than 21, 000 views and generated a very positive response.

Villeneuve is genuinely grateful to everyone who helped him get his video noticed.

"People are just so nice and so friendly about it and I can't thank [them] enough," he said. "I've got some pretty amazing friends and even the people I don't know have been so amazing and friendly. I'm just glad that it makes them happy because it sure makes me happy."

Phil takes Ellen's Dance Dare (Full Entry)

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